Sam sipped a strong Columbian espresso from The Machine and although he had countless similar cups from O'Shanley's this one, although every bit as luscious as previous cups, seemed different.
"Exceptional but, not the same," Sara commented after sipping her own Irish variant as they sat on stools at the Breeze's bar admiring their new acquisition.
Sam nodded. "The regulars are going to love it," he said looking around at an empty courtyard, thankful the bar's patrons let Sam and Sara have Sunday mornings alone.
"Maybe the power modulator needs a tweak," Ces said sitting on the bar next to The Machine.
"Uhuh," Sam said to the four-year old peering into one of several ventilation slits on The Machine.
"It's unusual for Drac to impose duration for a trip, especially for one across the galaxy," Sara said.
"Uhuh," Sam muttered mid-sip knowing Sara could easily tell he was getting anxious about the delay of his new mission as his concerns for Mick grew. It had been three days since his return.
Besides, the first generation usually kept their duration private, unlike the second generation linked directly to the Family clock. Drac might be taking months or even years to frame his interpretation on the ancient scrolls to reappear with his report in only a few hours or days.
"Maybe uncle Drac will change for us when he gets here?" Ces said hopefully.
"You know he does not choose when he changes," Sara said with a subtle eye roll directed at Sam.
Sam was well aware that Drac's changed appearance was horrendous. A nearly three-meter tall, hairy, smelly torso supporting a bulbous purple head with smoking horns protruding from its temples, clawed feet and a long, devilish forked tail all figured into the changed Draconous. Nevertheless, Ces loved her flamboyant uncle, even in his changed state.
Ces shook her head. "I know, Mom. Luc has told me all about the Laith change. Maybe we'll get lucky?"
Sam smiled at his daughter. "Don't count on—
"Incoming!" the breezes parrot, Barney, squawked from his perch above the Breeze's brick barbeque.
"Shit," the four-year old cursed while staring past her father.
Shaking her head in disbelief, Sara said, "Ces, that language—
"It's okay," Lars said as he appeared behind the barbeque with Miri.
"But I agree about the language," he added smiling at Ces while avoiding peanuts the parrot was tossing at them from its perch.
"Ma'am, we can explain," Miri said with a cautious look up at the Orange-Winged Amazon. "But a cup of joe from The Machine would be great," he added following Lars to the bar.
Sam quickly moved behind the bar and had two coffees dispensed before his old friends could take the necessary steps to join them. Then adjusting his TD below the bar, he set the devices defensive protocols to their highest state before slipping it back into his short's pocket.
"So, you must be Ces," Lars said after his first sip of a strong Arabian blend. "Your dad brags on you all the time," he added with a smile.
"And you are Sara," Miri said taking her hand gently while obviously admiring her long dreadlocks.
"Lars and Miri are, uh, were regulars at O'Shanley's," Sam explained.
"A great tragedy," Miri said solemnly.
"A great unforeseen tragedy," Lars corrected him.
Sam nodded also worried about the lack of future knowledge on O'Shanley's implosion.
"It seems there are explanations missing all around," Sara said.
Sam looked to Miri then to Lars.
"I assume you are travelers," Lars said bluntly.
"As you both are," Sam said with a smile.
"My father calls my brother the Traveler," Miri added earnestly looking at Lars.
"I'm guessing you're not Time Corps?" Ces asked staring at Miri's facial ink framing a kind smile.
Lars shook his head. "No, not the time cops."
Sam had many dealings with freelance travelers but he had never suspected Lars and Miri. He wondered what their real motives were.
"Homework time," Sara said looking sternly at Ces.
"Aw Mom," she said, "I never get to listen to good stuff."
"Off you go and no TV," Sara said lifting her down from the bar.
"You have several research papers to prepare before tomorrow for Luc."
Sam watched as his daughter dejectedly entered their home adjoining the bar and hoped Drac's arrival now would be later rather than sooner.
"So," Sara said to Sam's old friends as she moved behind the bar.
Sam knew she was within easy reach of several weapons.
"I guess I should start from the beginning," Lars said.
"That would be how you found us," Sara said.
"The fact that Sam and you are part of a community at the Breeze is no secret from O'Shanley's regulars," Miri injected.
"There has been crossover by patrons of both places over recent years," Lars said. He looked around the courtyard and pool surrounded by several small cottages that flanked the main house and bar. "But I regret never paying the Breeze a visit before now," he added wistfully.
Lars sighed. "I was raised by a generous and kind family two universes downline," he said.
"Reference Plane minus one," Sara said.
"The RP is our universe of origin, one fractime downline," Sam added still hopeful he could trust his old friends.
"We assumed you would be familiar with the fractal geometry of the multiverse," Miri added.
Lars continued, "My birth certificate indicates my birth occurred in the early part of twenty-first century, but I suspect that may not be totally correct. At any rate, at a young age, like Ces, I became aware I was different. My abilities grew until I had to leave my family for their sake.
The key reasons should be obvious."
Sam nodded. He knew well the pressures and issues arising from the power of both intra- and extra-universal travel much less a super-savant four-year old.
"But I felt I was still out of place," Lars said, "fundamentally not meant to be where I was. It's hard to describe but somehow I just knew there must be other universes and I became driven to find them. I found it easy to accumulate wealth and by age twenty I had the first working prototype of this translation device."
He pulled a pocket watch from his jeans, thumbed the cover up and showed it to Sam and Sara before gently setting it on the bar. "This version is much smaller and much more versatile but there's still more improvements I need to incorporate into my next timepiece."
"Kind of ironic for a traveler, don't you think," Sara said looking over the matte-gray watch with a red swirl engraved on its lid.
Sam noted the pattern matched Lars' tattoo on his left forearm.
"I suppose I should apologize for my oblique sense of humor," Lars said.
"Most don’t get it," Miri said then adding a chuckle.
"I missed family," Lars said. "My uniqueness set me apart in the multiverse. I decided to choose a new family. One from the past with no encumbrances and fear of technology." He smiled at his brother. "And one distant in both time and space to be safe."
"But something followed me into the past," he added with a subtle shudder. "I could sense it and I made it my mission to find out what it was. I devised elaborate detection devices but for decades it eluded me."
"Until one day," Miri said solemnly.
"It was soon after an upgrade of this device," Lars said gently closing the lid over the watch's simple display. "The increase in its spatial translation distance to galactic scales brought disaster to my new family."
Sam knew his TD theoretically could perform translations across the galaxy but the precise inputs needed were beyond even Luc. He appreciated that Lars had revealed technical details of his TD and relaxed further on his bar stool.
"A taniwha," Miri said.
"A monster," Lars clarified, "a beast, maybe even the beast. It attacked our tribe and abducted several women including Miri's sister and my beloved Helen."
Miri sighed. "I fear they are dead or worse."
"Buy why kidnap civilians?" Sara asked.
"After long pursuit of the beast across fractime," Lars said setting his empty coffee mug on the bar, "I can't even speculate. I can only surmise it exists to hate and bring pain from callous meddling into the realm of humanity."
"It seems to be the root of most evil since the dawn of Earth's early civilization," Miri said solemnly staring at the minerals composing the Breeze's unique bar.
"Mankind has generated a lot of its own evil, but not on the scale of this beast," Lars clarified.
Sam knew that coincidentally some Laiths had caused serious issues for the Family from constant, inappropriate relations with women. This perverse attraction had been one of several motivating reasons for the Family's exodus from the Western Isles to the Pruchlais.
"We need your help," Lars said into Sam's dark violet eyes.
"Maybe the Family is to blame?" Sara said with a worried look to Sam.
He guessed she also saw a possible connection to the Laiths.
"How?" Miri asked.
"We are part of a larger family," Sam said with a quick glance at Sara and then moved behind her and The Machine to set down his coffee mug.
Sara looked up at the parrot.
It gave a loud squawk just before Sam touched his TD's activator in his short's pocket.
Planet Trua
"The queen is in the tower," Luc said as Sam returned to the citadels Family ingress station.
"Thanks," Sam mumbled at the AI that again somehow knew his plans.
As he finally reached the top of the tower stairs, he saw the queen looking up at Trua's moons through the bright midday sunshine.
"Sam," she said turning to greet him. "You have news of the two men that disappeared from O'Shanley's?"
He knew asking any questions about how she knew his reason for being there was useless. "They have arrived at the Breeze. They are travelers."
"Describe the translation technology."
"It is small, but exquisite," he reported while gazing at a deep green nephrite set in a delicate, but simple, gold Hallstatt broach that ritually adorned his queen's tunic below her left shoulder. He knew it was a gift from Mick.
"Fitted into a pocket watch," he added, "but it may have galactic reach."
The queen smiled. "A pocket watch you say? Fairly cliché," she said with a subtle smile. "And the red ink?" she asked referring to the swirl on Lars' forearm.
"As Lars chose nineteenth-century south pacific in which to grow up, it could be tribal."
"Lars," the queen repeated. "A coincidence his name appears to be connected with a swirl?" she asked rhetorically.
Sam shrugged his shoulders. The queen's suggestion seemed a reach.
"What do they want?" she asked.
"Our help," he replied, "to find a monster that has plagued them across fractime. It has taken Miri's sister and Lars' wife."
Sam noticed the queen stiffen at the mention of the women.
"Another coincidence?" he asked and guessing she also made the weak connection to the Laiths.
"You personally will offer them full cooperation," she said ignoring his question, "thus provide whatever resources available. I will leave disclosure of Family details to your discretion. Far too many coincidences lately to worry about secrets or family canon."
The queen's decision shook Sam. He had expected her to assign another middle brother or sister to help them find this monster. In addition, her approval to give unprecedented Family details to other travelers disturbed him. He wondered if her illness was affecting her mentally. Besides, how was he supposed to help Lars and Miri as well as find Mick and his possible abductors?
"And Draconous?" she asked.
"He is researching a scroll recovered from the deep archives that may have bearing on Mick's disappearance," he replied. "I am expecting an update at any moment."
"And Ces?" she asked.
He raised his eyebrows. The queen did not usually intrude into personal lives of her family. "She is exceptional," he replied.
"I would like to see her," she said weakly. "After Mick's return we must make time."
"Of course," Sam said as the queen turned back to the celestial view from the tower.
"You're very special to Mick," the queen said. "And it's not the unusual lack of melanocytes you both uniquely share," she added turning back to him briefly to give him a youthful wink.
"You know I love him as my father," Sam said, again surprised by the private path his queen took their conversation.
"Good bye, Sam," she said through a feeble smile. "I fear there may be a connection between our fellow travelers quest and Mick's disappearance."
He stared into her still bright violet eyes for an instant hoping to understand such an enormous intuitive leap.
"Much is resting on your success in these matters," she added in a weak whisper.
"By your leave," Sam said and then touched the control on his TD.
Luc was waiting for him when he arrived back in the Citadels ingress station.
"I assumed you would translate directly to the Breeze," the AI said.
"Please have Doctor Fanua attend to our queen," Sam said with satisfaction that he had caught the AI unaware.
"The good doctor is already in attendance," Luc said. "I share your concern," the AI added sincerely. "But since your last visit, I believe she
has found new, inner strength. I believe her duration will lengthen significantly."
Sam reached out and grasped Luc's shoulder. "I hope you're right and I know she's in loving hands," Sam said truthfully before again touching the activator on his TD.
RefPlane +1, 17 June 1984
Sam reappeared behind The Machine next to Sara and continued to fill his mug. "Refill?" he asked Lars and Miri, both out of sight on the other side of The Machine then raised both eyebrows to Sara before whispering to her ear, "Our queen wants no secrets."
Her face flashed a brief air of disbelief before she subtly nodded acknowledgment.
"The answer to Miri's question will probably take a while," he added as he heard both Lars and Miri's set their empty coffee mugs on the bar.
"Maybe we should provide some back ground," Sam said with a subtle sigh while moving out from behind The Machine to collect their empty mugs. "A cyborg race destroyed Auriane, our planet of genetic origin over two centuries ago," he said.
"Based on the current earth calendar- Breeze time," Sara clarified.
"Our home planet was located somewhere in the outer Delta Quadrant,"
she added cautiously looking at Sam.
Miri wrought a low, long whistle.
Sam nodded to Sara then said, "We believe there are more survivors scattered across the universe, but our common ancestor appeared on Earth in the late Iron Age."
"You are over two thousand years old?" Miri asked.
"No," Sara replied. "Sam and I were born before the first millennium and as missions take us throughout fractime our duration differs greatly from the current calendar."
"Sara and I have durations of just over three hundred years," Sam said.
Miri duplicated his previous whistle.
Lars looked at Sam as he took a sip of coffee. "I'm just a kid in my thirties. I'm afraid that’s just a guess to my exact duration but it's close."
"How do you keep up with the time?" Miri asked Sam and Sara.
"We have a Family clock that keeps up with each family member,"
Sam replied, "well, second generation, like Sara and I anyways."
"The clock also provides a critical reference frame," Sara added.
Lars nodded.
"We avoid the past if at all possible as small changes can have a future impact," Sam said. "We are not always successful," he added.
"What exactly is your past?" Lars asked.
Sam smiled knowing Lars' intellect. "With respect to traveling upline from the distant past," Sam said, "there is a subtle divergence of similarity between fractimes that begins with Earth's agricultural revolution."
"And is significant by the latest stages of the planet's urbanization,"
Miri said.
"We take great efforts in capturing similarity data between fractimes to analyze this divergence, natural or otherwise," Sara added.
"Conversely," Sam said, "traveling downline this divergence appears as a convergence and what lies beyond, we consider the true past as dissimilarity between fractimes further downline is insignificant."
"We've seen this," Miri said. "Fractimes can be very different in the future."
"We know the Time Corps has a great interest in preserving similarity of pre-divergent fractimes," Lars said but offered no further explanation as Miri quickly took a sip of coffee.
"We have an allegiance of sorts with the Confederation of Planets,"
Sara said, "and specifically with the far-future Time Corps," she added.
"We have had joint missions that the TC has insisted on commanding," Sam explained, "but those are rare. We mostly pass on information on similarity anomalies."
"The TC can be very bureaucratic," Sara said with a hint of distain and receiving a nod from Miri. "Our own Family missions are prioritized with respect to specific instances of meddling surrounding the Reference Plane that also may have considerable social consequences," she added.
Lars said, "Your technology is obviously advanced."
"But it has its limits," Sara said.
"And confidential," Sam added quickly, ignoring the queen's orders.
"Of course," Lars said.
"Our taniwha must have sent your meddling meter off scale," Miri said after a sip of steaming coffee.
"The O'Shanley's incident was obviously momentous. But meddling can be masked by simultaneous events across many fractimes," Sam said.
"And even the Family does not have the resources to monitor all of fractime," Sara said. "Even in our home similarity sector, we only regularly follow a few fractimes closely."
"You know of the destruction looming in distant upline?" Lars asked.
"The TC has kept us informed," Sam said breaking the strictest of family rules- providing future information to the past.
"And we are preparing," Sara said solemnly.
"Hopefully that distant war has no bearing on what brings us together," Sam said.
Lars sat back in his bar stool and turned his face to the sun. "I hope you are correct Sam," he said slowly and while exchanging sideways glances with the Breeze's parrot that was clearly growing agitated on top its perch.
"You said your family could have a connection to Helen and Tui's abduction," Miri said.
Sam sighed just as Barney let loose a feather-splitting squawk.